To stall thanks to epic floods. Political turmoil and religious extremists who thought the polio fought the Polio Campaign with guns and rumors. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff our lead story tonight the furloughs ended for some federal workers today, but hundreds of thousands more stayed home, and much of the government started a second week in shutdown mode. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. The government is still shut down. Services are still interrupted. With no end to the shutdown in sight, president obama warned House Republicans today theyre wrong if they think hell change his longstanding position. Were to the going to negotiate under the threat of further harm to our economy and middleclass families. We are he not going to negotiate under the threat of a prolonged shutdown until republicans get 100 of what they want. Reporter the president spoke at fema, the Disaster Agency which recalled 200 furloughed employees when Tropical Storm karen menaced the gulf coast. With the storm over at least 100 of those workers will be furloughed again. At the same time defense secretary chuck hagel ordered nearly 350,000 of his civilian workers back on the job today to support the military. Irresponsible. Reporter meanwhile organizing for action which grew out of the president s Reelection Campaign thought to add to the pressure on help cans with a cable tv ad. Now Tea Party Republicans are threatening an economic shutdown, refusing to pay our nations bills, endangering american jobs. Reporter on sunday House Speaker john boehner insisted the president wont get his way. And on the house floor today he called again for talks with the president. Now the American People expect when their leaders have differences, and in a time of crisis that well sit down and at least have a conversation. Really, mr. President , its time to have that conversation before our economy is put further at risk. Reporter republicans and democrats did agree on one thing, a bill to give retroactive pay to furloughed federal employees. It awaits Senate Approval and the president said hed sign it. But the greatest risk looms in just ten days when the federal government hits the debt ceiling, running out of Borrowing Authority and defaulting on paying its debt. Treasury secretary jack lew said sunday he cannot extend the deadline any further. Im telling you that on the 17th we run out of our ability to borrow and cgress is playing with fire. If they dont extend the debt limit, we have a very, very short window of time before those scenarios start to be played out. Reporter today jean sperling, a senior president ial Economic Advisor did not rule out accepting a debt ceiling extension of just 2 to 3 weeks. Senate democrats said they will introduce a debt ceiling bill this week with no other provisions attached. House republicans have said they want spending cuts and other addons included. Woodruff for the latest on what is happening behind the scenes, we turn to robert costa. He is the washington editor for the national review, and joins me from capitol hill. Robert, welcome to the program. What is the latest . What are you hearing right now . House Republican Leaders huddled today at the capitol and still remain undecided about the path forward, even if the clock ticks with the debt limit approaching. Thi moans republicans really arent ready to come up with a negotiation with president obamand are not sure of the path ahead. That means the impasse continues. Woodruff we are hearing as kwame just reported, the white house is sending the signal that they are prepared to accept a short term increase in the debt ceiling. Thats something they were not willing to accept before. What are your republican sources saying abo that . My sources close to the leadership, judy, tell me this is an important piece of news today. Because if the white house is willing to accept a shortterm debt limit extension, maybe Speaker Boehner c bring this to the conservatives within his conference and say we may not get all what we want right now, but lets have a shortterm extension and keep the fight going. Woodruff you mentioned Speaker Boehner. So much of this is focused on him. Describe some of the pressures around him right now . What is he hearing, what is he dealing with. Speaker boehner really is a central figure right now. I think he has very much a dry wit about him. I see him every morning when he his breakfast at petes dinner on capitol hill. But he is struggling to hold his conference together, to have a grip over his conference. Hes baling with a bloc of about 30 to 50 conservatives this have probably more influence than most people realize, they really shape the direction of negotiations within the house gop and they are telling boehner to hold firm and not negotiate. And thats really shaking what is happening within the conference. They dont want boehner to even try to cut any kind of compromise. Woodruff but he also has members who, the reporting is, who are not comfortable with this strategy. How much pressure are they putting on the speaker . A lot of the republicans who come from suburban districts, i spoke to jim gurlack, two representatives republicans from the philadelphia area said they would like republicans to end the shutdown and extend the debt limit. And they are trying to whip their conservative friends behind the scene saying this has to end. The mess has to end. But right now within the house gop its still very much a divided scenario. Woodruff and what about the business community, robert . Theres been a lot of reporting about folks who normally would consider themselves supportive of the republicans who are letting it be known theyre uneasy with what is happening. The fact that the debt soling is in some jeopardy. Are they making their voices heard on the hill . The problem is the wall Street Community that usually supports the republican party, theyre talking to boehner and the leadership but it is the small dollar donor, the supporters of ted cruz and other Tea Party Favorites are really driving the discussions on the right within the house. But the real mood on wall street is Speaker Boehner is known as a deal maker. He tried to get a grand bargain in 2011 during its debt ceiling talks and they thincan do it again. They think that what is happening right now is political feeder and come the deadline midnight of october 16th john boehner ultimately, they hope, will be able to cut a deal. Woodruff so what is it its republicans in the house need in order to move. They need a figure leaf, a concession in the white house. After having the brinksmanship on the debt limit and shutdown they cant go to the tea party base and they they got nothing in return. They want a repeal of the medical device tax, perhaps trade of sequestration cuts for trained cpi, the way Social Security is calculated, some concessions to sell to republicans around the country. Woodruff give us a sense of what is going on on the hill. We know many of the members may still have been out of town today. Are there meetings going on constantly . Is it all in the back room . Give us a sense of how if feels. So allots of members were returning to washington today. And there was a Tornado Warning here in the capitol. And so members are still returning but they are voting in the house tonight at 6 30 p. M. What they are looking at is the leadership met at 1 00, later at 4 00 and 5 00. And theyre trying to whip support behind the scenes for some bargain. Boehner is plot og his next move. He remains undecided but sometime soon, probably later this week, and pete session of texas tells me probably within the 48 hours. House republicans have to unveil some kind of debt limit proposal. They still need to decide what that final product looks leak. Woodruff so how close down to the wire can they let this go . I think they are probably going to go to the final days. And that is because of the political pressure from the right. If they dont, if the speaker and the leadership to the conservatives dont look like they fought to the end there will be rercussions politically within the party. So they have to keep fighting. That is what you saw Speaker Boehner on sunday on abc talk about the need for a conversation that at the same time saying will not yield any ground. Just quickly, finay robert, were hearing tonight in the senate that this plan to pay federal workers who have been furloughed back pay has hit a snag. Senator john cornyn of texas, do you know anything about that . What is happening, i think s both parties want to make sure there is back pay for federal workers but senate democrats, especially Senate Majority leader harry reid dont want a deal with republicans o on back pay during this constant hostility unless republicans come up with a deal to fund the government and extent the debt limitment until that happens, until republicans inch toward the center it is unlikely to have a final deal in the senate. Woodruff meanwhile it all waits. Indeed t does. I think well keep waiting until next week, until that 11th hour. Robert costa, thank you very much. Thank you. In other news the stalemate in in other news, the stalemate in washington fed the unease on wall street, and sent stocks falling again. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 136 points to close at 14,936. The nasdaq dropped 37 points to close at 3770. Woodruff one federal institution did return to work today. The Supreme Court opened its new term by turning away hundreds of pending appeals. The first arguments of the session come tomorrow, when the Court Considers lifting the limits on Campaign Contributions by individuals. Well have more on this after the news summary. In iraq, coordinated explosions rocked baghdad, killing at least 45 people. Eight of the attacks mostly car bombs struck commercial areas in mainly shiite districts. More than 6,000 people have died in iraq this year, most of them since the surge of violence began in april. The president of afghistan, hamid karzai, has ruled out signing a longterm security deal with the u. S. Until differences over sovereignty are resolved. The pact would provide legal grounds for some foreign troops to remain in afghanistan beyond the 2014 u. S. Withdrawal date. But karzai said today negotiations have been difficult. They have not expected whenever they have found i it that acted against we have woodruff karzai said he will convene a meeting of afghan elders in one month to help him make a decision. A senior alqaeda figure is now on a u. S. Warship in the mediterranean, being questioned in the 1998 bombings of american embassies in kenya and tanzania. He was captured by u. S. Commandos on saturday in libya. A second u. S. Raid failed to capture a top member of al shabaab in somalia. More on this, later in the program. Egypt was rocked by new killings today. In southern sinai, a suicide car bomber killed three policemen and wounded dozens more, and a driveby shooting killed six soldiers outside cairo. Meanwhile, funerals were held for some of the more than 50 People Killed yesrday. They died in clashes between Security Forces and supporters of ousted president mohammed morsi. Two americans and a german researcher will share this years nobel prize for medicine. They won today for discoveries on how critical chemicals move inside cells work that could help treat diabetes and alzheimers. The americans are James Rothman of yale and Randy Schekman of the university of california at berkeley. Schekman recounted the phone call he got this morning. He said this is calling from stockholm and congratulations and when i realized that was it. And i hi gone through this in my mind so many times, what i would say. And of course, words escaped me at that moment. And i think all i said was oh my god, oh my god. Woodruff and theres more on this story, coming later. Opening statements began today in cleveland, in the case of an alleged 100 million fraud scheme that claimed to help navy veterans. Prosecuters say John Donald Cody siphoned money from his fake charity and used some of the money for political donations, but little, if any, benefited veterans. Cody could face 40 years in prison. Also ahead on the newshour, the Supreme Court kicks off a new term; fallout from the twin raids on terrorists in north africa; setbacks in the fight to end polio in pakistan; public policys impact on poverty programs; and a nobel Prize Winners moment of joy. Woodruff its the first monday in october, and the federal government may be shut down, but the Supreme Court opened its new term on schedule. Ray suarez takes a look at what lies ahead. Suarez there isnt one single blockbuster case on the docket as in recent Supreme Court terms, but the high court will consider a number of weighty issues. The nine justices will hear cases dealing with campaign finance, abortion, prayer in government, president ial power, affirmative action, and housing discrimination. Our guide for the term will be, as always, marcia coyle of the national law journal. She joins me now. Before we get to the nittygritty why didnt the sprom court shut down . Well, our federal courts including the Supreme Court are dependent on congressional appropriations to operate. The Supreme Court says it can continue to operate at least through the end of this week when it will then stop and evaluate. Federal courts have small source of independent money usually from fines am but its not going to be enough to cay it through a longterm shutdown. But the court has operated in prior shutdowns and even when blizzards have shut down washington d. C. I think theres a quiet sense of pride that it continues to do its work and to do it on time. Suarez we mentioned at the outset that there isnt a single case as there has been in recent terms. Right. Suarez but a lot of attention right out of the gate with Campaign Contributions, i couldnt spit it out there. They are revisiting whether money can ever be regulated as speech when its being given to a political campaign. Tell us about the case. Okay, ray. Well, this is a very porn case. The court back in 1976 approved of the way congress had divided Campaign Regulation between Campaign Spending and Campaign Contributions. It said that spending was something that you really could not regulate, put limit on. It was more closely aligned with pure speech under the First Amendment. And but Campaign Contributions, even though they involve speech that was protected, you could regulate that because there is a greater risk of corruption or the appearance of corruption, of giving large sums of money directly to a candidate or a political committee. This case is asking the jusces whether the total limits on what someone can give in a twoier election cycle violates the First Amendment now. The proponents of this case argue that the risk of corruption is no longer there because of changes in election laws over the years. And its time to at least limit the aggregate total amount that can be given. But keep in place the base limit its, limits that someone can contribute during one election. Suarez so this would has the potential like so many of these cases to revisiting or revising what has been guiding case law, guiding precedence on which a lot of decisions have been based. In particular that 1976 decision. There are briefs that have been filed in the case aggressively asking the court to overturn it. And the result is going to be basically more money in campaigns if the court goes down that road. But limits on contributions, the court has upheld those for almost 40 years now. They are considered sacrosanct. Well have to wait and see ifhe court is willing to take that very new step. Suarez lets look at other big cases. Abortion going to be revisited. Yes, were coming back to abortion. Two cases on the docket. One involves a 35 foot buffer zone around abortion clinics in massachusetts. Back in 2000 the Supreme Court upheld an 8 foot buffer zone around clinics in colorado. Here again, those who are challenging the buffer zone are saying well, if this 35 foot buffer zone doesnt compart with what you said in the 2000 case, overrule that 2000 case. The second case would be the first time the Supreme Court would look at medicai medicaid medication abortions, drugs used to terminate a pregnancy, for example, ru486. This involves an oklahoma law. It is in a strange position because the court asked the oklahoma Supreme Court to clarify the meaning of the law. It did what we call certified two questions to that court. Ok